Transposable Element Insertions into the Escherichia coli Polysialic Acid Gene Cluster Result in Resistance to the K1F Bacteriophage.

ABSTRACT: Reviewing the genetics underlying the arms race between bacteria and bacteriophages can offer an interesting insight into the development of bacterial resistance and phage co-evolution. This study shows how the natural development of resistances to the K1F bacteriophage, a phage which targets the K1 capsule of pathogenic Escherichia coli, can come about through insertion sequences (IS). Of the K1F resistant mutants isolated, two were of particular interest. The first of these showed full resistance to K1F and was found to have disruptions to kpsE, the product of which is involved in polysialic acid translocation. The second, after showing an initial susceptibility to K1F which then developed to full resistance, had disruptions to neuC, a gene involved in one of the early step

SUBMITTER: Styles KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9241782 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature